A Lesson In Forever Love
by MoreBonesPlz
Summary: Parker Booth wants his girlfriend and his Washington DC family to meet, but there just might be a few surprises when they do. Part of the Bonesology 2017 VD Gift Exchange.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _This is my story for the Bonesology 2017 Valentine's Day Gift Exchange written for GalaxieGurl who wanted Parker to introduce his love interest to his "Bones" family. I'm fairly certain that what I've done with this story is not what she would've come up with writing it herself, but I also assume that's exactly why she asked for someone else to take on this prompt – to explore a different view._

 _GalaxieGurl – I hope you enjoy this gift and that it sufficiently entertains. This will be a multi-chapter story and it may not all be done by February 14_ _th_ _(my apologies), but hopefully, no one objects too much._

 **Disclaimer** : I own nothing _Bones_ related except my imagination.

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As the wheels of the British Airways A330 Airbus touched down on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport, Parker Booth glanced over at the young woman sitting in the seat beside him, gently chewing on her bottom lip as she stared intently at the back of the seat in front of her. It was obvious she was a little nervous. Parker was feeling some butterflies in his stomach too, but for days, he'd been trying to convince himself it was simply due to excitement, not nerves. Sure, he was bringing his girlfriend, Millie, to Washington DC to meet his Dad's side of the family, but he was certain they'd all get along just fine, so there really wasn't any reason to feel nervous. Right?

Parker and Millie been dating almost seven months now, finally becoming lovers about four months ago on his 18th birthday. Talk about a Happy Birthday present. Millie had rocked his socks off – figuratively and literally. Surprisingly, she'd actually been his first but she told him that what he lacked in experience, he'd made up for in enthusiasm. Not so surprisingly, with an 18-year old male's stamina and appetites plus Parker's keen intellect, that _lack of experience_ issue was rapidly dissipating. He was a quick learner and a diligent student.

Reaching out, he gently grasped her hand, linking their fingers together against her jean-clad thigh as he leaned over and bumped her shoulder with his. "Hey, no more of that, Millie. I told you this trip will be the bees knees. You're going to love visiting Washington DC."

Brown eyes, not too unlike his own, turned to look at him from a flawless pale face surrounded by dark coffee brown colored hair. Her strawberry red painted lips quirked up in a half smile. "I'm sorry. I can't seem to help the collywobbles I get thinking about meeting your Dad and your stepmom. Just from the stories you've told me about your dad . . . he seems like such a badass. I keep worrying that I'll piss him off somehow and end up in handcuffs before the week is over."

"He's not that bad," Parker grinned. "He's just Dad, you know? He believes in acting honorably and helping others, but he still likes to have fun. He's a little old-fashioned about some things and sometimes, he still seems to think I'm only ten years old, but he's getting better about that. He's mellowed a lot since he got married. Bones has some sort of mind voodoo tricks she seems to be able to do on him to bring him around if he starts getting unreasonable."

Millie groaned and slumped down a little further in her seat. "Oh, yeah. Then there's _Bones_. I mean . . . wow . . . your stepmom is _the_ Dr. Temperance Brennan. Brilliant. Beautiful. Such an inspiration to women everywhere. How do you even speak with her without getting all tongue-tied?"

Parker laughed. "I've known her for fourteen years, ever since I was only 4, and I've never thought of her as anything other than just Bones. She's cool. She doesn't act like she's famous or anything. Trust me, you'll love her."

Millie snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm more worried I'll love her too much and she won't care for me a'tall. I just want to plant a big wet kiss on her when I see her. I swear, I have every book she's ever written downloaded onto my Kindle and I've already pre-ordered her next release which doesn't even come out for a couple more months. Her stories are bloody marvelous and I'm gonna have a bugger of a time not totally fan-girling when I meet her."

Parker lifted their hands and placed a sweet kiss on the back of hers without letting go. "You know, I'll let you in on a little secret if you promise to keep it to yourself." Millie looked at him skeptically from the corners of her eyes, but nodded her head in agreement, using her free hand to mimic crossing her heart. " _I've never actually read any of her books before_ ," he whispered dramatically. Parker shrugged his shoulders before explaining. "When I was a little kid, my Dad said I couldn't read them until I grew armpit hair and then since I've been old enough, I've been more into non-fiction or science fiction instead."

"No way, you must be bamming me." Millie stared at him like he was from another planet. "Oh, Parker. You really should try reading one. They're not like typical crime-fiction novels. As much as you enjoy science-y stuff, I think you'd really like them."

Parker grinned and leaned closer to her like he was about to reveal another deep secret. "My Dad once said that a lot of the stuff Bones puts in her stories about crimes and forensics is based off of real experiences they've had working together as partners." He sat back, puffing out his chest proudly. "He's always claimed, even before they started dating, that the Agent Andy character is based off him too."

"Really?" Millie's eyes twinkled teasingly and her voice dropped closer to a whisper as she leaned over the armrest into his personal space. "Does that mean he's also her muse for the incredibly hot sex scenes she writes because I gotta say, her Kathy Reichs character is very creative and adventurous between the sheets." Millie waggled her eyebrows at him. "Quite an inspiration."

Parker closed his eyes and thumped his head back against his seatback. "Oh God, don't say it like that. Now I'm gonna be wondering every time I . . . you know . . . fool around with a girl that she's getting her ideas from my stepmom."

Millie kissed his cheek, right in front of where his jaw met his ear. "Well, I obviously can't speak for all girls, but while you're with me, they don't really matter anyway. However, I promise you this Parker Booth: When I get you naked, I am not thinking about your stepmom."

Before he could respond again, the stewardess announced that it was okay for people to unfasten their seat belts and depart the plane. They were at their terminal. Probably a good thing because whenever Millie started talking about getting naked together, Parker's brain seemed to stop functioning completely and showing up at his Dad's house with a raging erection and an inability to string words into a sentence didn't seem like the best way to make Millie's introduction.

Hand in hand, Millie and Parker made their way down to the baggage claim area to pick up their luggage before heading outside to the Taxi cab stand. As they stood in line at the curb, Parker started bobbing up and down on the balls of his feet and his palm started to perspire. Millie noted he was now chewing on _his_ lip. "Parker? What's wrong? You seem . . . tense all of a sudden."

"Um, well, I have another confession to make, Millie." Parker swallowed and glanced at her guiltily. "I, uh, well, I didn't actually let my Dad know we were coming."

Millie's jaw dropped open. "What? Are you daft?"

Parker forced a smile. "I thought it would be a nice surprise for them." He stepped forward and opened the door to the taxi cab that just pulled up for her, motioning for her to climb in while the driver stashed their bags in the boot. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Bloody hell." Millie frowned, crossing her arms to keep herself from clobbering her idiotic boyfriend, and shook her head. "Bloody _fucking_ hell."

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 **A/N:** _Just a short introduction. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Parker's surprise._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _Wow. Thank you for all the responses to the first chapter. It's always a bit daunting to post a new chapter following one that was so well received. I hope people enjoy this one as much as the last._

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 **Disclaimer** : I own nothing _Bones_ related except my imagination. (2/14/17)

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Brennan carried the basket full of clean laundry into her bedroom and set it down on the corner of the bed. In an attempt to alleviate the tedium of folding clothes, she grabbed the remote control for the TV and flipped it on, finding a National Geographic documentary about the migration of man across the planet. She would never fully admit it to her husband, but she'd actually come to enjoy having a TV in their bedroom. Not only was she able to find interesting and educational shows like this one that she could play in the background when she did things like folding the laundry, but she also enjoyed watching cartoons or movies with her children while snuggling under the blankets. Of course, recalling some of the more interesting times that resulted from snuggling under the blankets to "watch" a movie with her husband and no kids also brought a smile to her lips.

So far, the TV had not put a damper on their sex lives.

She was about half way through her basket, small piles of socks, shirts, or his and hers underwear stacked neatly on the bed, when she heard the front door open, the sound of Booth's keys landing in the bowl they kept by the front door confirming it was him. Even though it was a Saturday, he'd had to go into the office for a couple hours this morning to work on some paperwork that was overdue.

Through their glass walls, she watched as he entered the kitchen and poured himself a large glass of water, loosening the tie around his neck until the knot was undone and the tie hung limply over his shoulders. He turned and caught her looking at him as he reached for an apple from the fruit bowl on the countertop, his face lighting up in an affectionate smile as he headed towards the bedroom.

"Hey, Bones. It's awfully quiet in the house. Max take the kids out again?"

"Yes. He picked them up about an hour ago and they went to the Newseum downtown. I don't expect them back for a couple more hours."

"Huh. That was nice of him."

They'd both pondered Max's recent zeal in wanting to spend time together with her family, joining them for dinners or taking the kids places with increased frequency, but he'd not provided any explanations other than a vague comment about building memories and they'd not pushed him. Something about the way she occasionally caught him looking at her or the kids had Brennan convinced that something was going on with her father that he wasn't sharing with them, but, honestly, she was enjoying their time together too much to risk getting in a dispute about it. Max wouldn't share anything until he was ready anyway and pushing him for explanations would likely result in a bunch of prevarications. She'd learned that lesson long ago.

Instead, Brennan devoted her attention to her husband, covertly watching him unbutton his dress shirt, starting at the top and moving down one button, then another, between bites of his apple. As he lifted the piece of fruit to his mouth, the edges of his shirt would gape open, exposing glimpses of his pectoralis muscles, then, with each new button undone, a bit more and more of his abdominals. She watched the flex and ripple of his trapezius and deltoids as he shrugged the shirt from his shoulders tossing it on the bed as he turned, walking a few steps away, and dropped the apple core in the trash. Of course, when he turned back to return to his shirt so he could move it to the dirty laundry, all of the muscles of his torso were on display for her to visually feast on. The pectorals, the serratus, the obliques, the abdominals. Her eyes drifted down to where the inguinal fold started on each side of his pelvic area and disappeared into the top of his trousers. It teased at what was still hidden, but her memory was excellent. She could picture the rest of him easily. "How was the office?"

Such a mundane question, but the husky rasp in his wife's voice stopped Booth in his tracks and made him look at her closer. She was still holding the same sock she'd been holding when he first walked in the room, a men's long white athletic sock, but she appeared to be fondling it more than folding it, her eyes focused somewhere below his chin. Booth smirked, suddenly feeling extremely cocky, and stood up taller, puffing out his chest. "You ogling me there, Bones?"

Brennan's eyes flitted up to his briefly, guiltily, then dropped back down again, a smile starting to tug at the edges of her mouth. "Can you blame me? You are . . . quite well structured."

He propped his hands on his hips and tried flexing one pectoral muscle, then the other, making his chest jump up and down while the rest of him stayed still. It was a silly, purely masculine display, an affectation many body builders adopted, but Brennan loved it and cooed her appreciation. "I feel like a piece of meat on display here," Booth laughed.

Brennan shook her head. "No. Don't be ridiculous. Not meat. I'm a vegetarian. You're more like an all-you-can-eat salad bar."

Booth rolled his eyes and frowned, slowly sauntering closer to her. "A salad bar? That doesn't sound at all sexy, Bones."

She placed a palm on his bare chest, letting her fingers wander. "Not even the all-you-can-eat part?"

"Well, I suppose that part has potential." Booth slid his hands around her waist and pulled her body flush against his as his mouth covered hers with a kiss that had _purpose_. It wasn't chaste and it wasn't sweet. It was a commanding kiss that immediately dominated her mouth, staking claim, demanding entrance, and declaring in no uncertain terms his intention of ravishing her then and there. Heaven help her, but Brennan loved such alpha male behavior from her mate and her arms slid up over his shoulders, one hand twining in the hair at his nape while the other still held a sock dangling from her fingers.

Booth's hands slipped beneath the hem of her shirt so he could stroke the bare skin of her back. Up to her shoulders and down to the lower curve of her ass, pulling her in even closer, tucking her a bit more this way or that, like he was trying to squeeze out every possible air bubble that separated them. Once he felt Brennan pressed so fully against his body that it was hard to tell where he stopped and she began, he allowed just enough room that he could reach up and cup one of her breasts. Teasing, tweaking, pulling a moan from the back of her throat. His hands slid back down to the hem of her shirt and he pulled upward, stripping it off her body at the same time he toppled her into the piles of folded laundry on their bed. The sounds of their laughter as they bounced on the mattress drowned out the noise of the front door opening and closing.

"Dad? Bones? Anyone home?"

Booth straightened his arms, staring down at Brennan in confusion as he was poised above her, his hips nestled between her spread legs at the edge of the bed. "Parker?" he asked her. She shook her head, conveying she knew nothing.

"Parker?" This time, Booth made his voice loud enough to carry into the foyer. "That you?"

"Yeah, Dad . . . Umm, Surprise!" His voice sounded closer, like he was moving away from the front door and nearer to their bedroom door.

"I'll be right out, Bub. Just . . . give me a second."

Booth shoved himself off Brennan so quickly and forcefully that he tripped over his own feet and ended up falling backwards into the wall, making a loud thumping noise as he landed on his backside that had Parker and Millie looking at each other with raised brows and understanding grins.

Booth picked himself up off the floor and ran around the end of the bed towards the front door. Brennan looked around for where Booth had tossed her shirt and not seeing it immediately, simply grabbed his discarded dress shirt instead, not wanting to greet Parker in just her brassiere. Quickly refastening the buttons she had so enjoyed watching Booth unfasten just a short while ago, she followed him out of the room.

Millie stood slightly behind and to the side of Parker, watching as his father came out to meet them. One look at Booth standing there, bare chested, in his dark grey dress slacks that sported a prominent tent in the front and Millie fully understood why this man was the inspiration for Agent Andy in Dr. Brennan's Kathy Reichs stories. Dark hair, strong jaw, brooding eyes of warm chocolate. He had a slew of scars from bullet wounds all over his chest, but they didn't mask the finely honed musculature underneath. Before giving it much thought, she leaned into Parker's shoulder and muttered under her breath "Cor, I take back what I said earlier, Parks. Your dad is fit and I think I'd be just fine if _he_ puts me in handcuffs this week."

"Bloody hell, Millie. You can't say things like that about my Dad!"

Booth was still so surprised to find his son standing in his hallway that he didn't pay any attention to what the youngsters were saying. He simply reached out and pulled Parker into a hug. "Parker." He stepped back as soon as Brennan joined them, allowing her to give Parker a welcoming hug too.

"Who's this?" Booth asked, seeing the attractive young woman standing next to his son with a couple roll-aboard pieces of luggage at her feet.

Parker reached for Millie's hand, pulling her forward. "Dad, Bones, this is Millie Beckham. She came with me from London, to visit. She's never been to the US before and we're planning to spend a full week exploring the area." Parker took a deep breath and looked at Millie before turning back to his dad. "Millie's my girlfriend."

Booth paused for a moment, taken aback, then extended a hand to greet her. "Millie, nice to meet you." He vaguely remembered Rebecca mentioning Parker had started dating a while back but couldn't recall any details. He hadn't paid much attention figuring that Parker dating simply meant he and some girl were exchanging notes in class or something like that. Millie shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Booth. Parker speaks very proudly of you."

Parker turned towards Brennan. "And this is my stepmom, Bones."

"My wife, Dr. Temperance Brennan," Booth interjected, announcing her name almost out of habit after introducing her so many times over the years.

"Please, call me Temperance, or Tempe," Brennan reached out to shake Millie's hand and realized she was still clutching the damn white athletic sock that she'd been folding when Booth started his striptease. "Oh, sorry, I was just . . . folding the laundry," she looked back over her shoulder into the bedroom and saw that all her earlier neatly stacked piles had been destroyed by her almost-romp with her husband. She'd have to start over.

Millie snorted. "I'm sure we Englanders must have at least a thousand different euphemisms for it, but I've never heard it called _folding the laundry_ before."

"Oh, jeez, Millie." One of the things that had drawn Parker to Millie when they first met is that she had a forthright manner of speaking that somewhat reminded him of Bones. She tended to say whatever was on her mind. Needless to say, in the months they'd been dating, Parker had learned that trait was a bit of a double edged sword.

"What?" She waved an arm towards Brennan. "Look at her shirt, the buttons aren't even matched up correctly." Brennan glanced down, noting the truth of Millie's observation. "It's obvious that we not only surprised them with our visit, we surprised them in the act of a little slap and tickle."

"Oh, no. You're wrong. Booth would never hit me. He wasn't slapping or tickling me. Although, if you heard our laughter when you entered I can see why you might have misunderstood and thought I was being tickled. We were actually –"

"Stop! Just, stop, Bones. Let's just agree that we all understand what was happening and move on. So, how'd you two meet? Were you classmates?"

"No. I told you I got that job last summer doing odds and ends in Mom's law firm. Millie was interning at the same time and we hit it off almost immediately."

"Wait, interning? Not just a summer job, like yours?"

"No, Mr. Booth. I'm studying law at University and my job was an actual internship placed through University's career center."

"Then, that means you're . . . older than Parker?"

"Just a little more than a year, yes." Millie reached up and traced the tip of her finger around Parkers earlobe, watching it flush pink. "But, Parker is very mature for his age."

"Oh." Booth was still having a hard time catching up. Parker was here. Parker had a girlfriend, an older girlfriend, a girlfriend who was touching Parker with small intimate gestures like Bones did with him, a girlfriend who was probably his . . . special friend. _Lover_ wasn't a title Booth was ready to embrace yet, not in relation to his little boy even if it was obvious his boy was not so little anymore.

Luckily, Brennan was much quicker at processing situations and stepped naturally into the role of hostess. "Well, it's wonderful to meet you and welcome to our home. Come on in, there's no need to keep standing in the hallway. Why don't I point you to your room so you can put away your luggage then I'll pull together something for us to snack on."

"Thank you," Millie responded. "That would be lovely."

Brennan turned and started walking down the hall. "There should be clean sheets on the beds in your room Parker and on the guest bed." Suddenly, she stopped and turned around to look at the young couple. "Unless . . . were you planning to share the guest bedroom with your friend, Parker?"

"Bones!" Booth couldn't believe she'd asked that question and based on the red flush rapidly consuming his son's face, it didn't seem Parker had been prepared for that question either. Millie on the other hand, seemed delightedly entertained, an ear-to-ear grin on her face that matched her merrily dancing eyes.

"What, Booth? Parker is an adult now and he brought an attractive young lady with him on his vacation. If he's anything like you, then I'm sure they . . ." Brennan waved her sock in a circle, ". . you know, _fold laundry_ together too."

Millie couldn't help it. She laughed out loud. "Oh, I do so like you, Temperance. You are bloody brilliant."

"Thank you. I am considered to be quite intelligent."

Booth glared at Brennan and Parker prayed fervently for a hole to appear in the floor and swallow him up. Obviously, this was payback for leaving his visit as a surprise. God was torturing him. "I'll, uh, I'll stay in my old room and, uh, Millie can have the guest room. Alone."

Brennan just shrugged her shoulders and continued forward. "Just remember to restrain yourselves around your younger siblings."

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 **A/N:** _Happy Valentine's day. I hope you all think of B &B 'folding laundry' the next time you wash your clothes! Feedback on my story is always welcome._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** _Thanks to everyone who shared your thoughts with me on the last chapter. I'm incredibly pleased that so many of you are enjoying this story._

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 **Disclaimer** : I own nothing _Bones_ related except my imagination. (2/19/17)

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Millie had never been much of a morning person and a 7 hour flight traversing the Atlantic Ocean to meet her boyfriend's family wasn't going to change that. Couple that with the absolutely luxurious bedding she'd crawled into the night before and she didn't really give a rat's arse if a dozen American roosters perched right outside her window, cock-a-doodle-doo-ing as loud as they could – she was determined to ignore the arrival of a new day and stay snuggled in her warm cocoon a little longer. She'd just experienced the best bloody night's sleep of her life and she wasn't going to give it up easily.

Parker had sighed reverently once about how one of his stepmom's few indulgences and displays of her wealth were reflected in her beds. Millie hadn't appreciated the comment at the time, but now, she was almost convinced Dr. Temperance Brennan purchased mattresses that must've been crafted by Morpheus himself. They seemed to wrap around the occupant, enfolding him or her within the softest, highest quality sheets, weaving a near-magical nest which fostered the sweetest of dreams. So, even as consciousness insidiously crept into her brain, she did not want to open her eyes. She wanted to just lie in her comfortable and cozy bed and lollygag for a while.

There was one tiny problem though.

Millie wasn't alone in her heavenly bed.

She'd been alone the night before when she swathed herself in this fantabulistic bedding that was fit for the Queen of England, but now, she reluctantly cracked one eye open and was greeted with two chocolatey brown orbs peering back at her from her unexpected bedmate's head, resting on her pillow just inches from her own.

It was the sound of the thumb sucking that had given his presence away and at the sight of her eyes fluttering open, Hank Booth reached out with his free hand and placed it gently against her cheek. Millie had picked up an admirer and, God's truth, she thought she might be falling in love with him too.

Yesterday afternoon, when Max Keenan had returned from the Newseum with Parker's siblings, Christine had squealed with delight, immediately running into Parker's arms, thrilled to see her big brother so unexpectedly. Hank, on the other hand, had shyly hidden behind the pant legs of one or another of the other adults in the room for the first couple hours, running away anytime Parker came close. It wasn't until after Max had left for the evening, Booth had taken up residence in the kitchen preparing dinner, Parker and Christine were sitting together on the couch reading one of her books, and Millie sat at the dining room table with Temperance, each working on their own laptops that Hank started to warm up to Millie.

At first, he just watched her quietly, occasionally peeking out from behind his mother's chair. Eventually, Millie started sticking out her tongue and making funny faces every time she caught him peeking at her. He'd peek, she'd make a goofy face, rolling her eyes, contorting her mouth, poking her tongue out sideways, and he'd hide behind his mom, then they'd do it again. And, again. The first time she heard the sound of that little-boy giggle, she'd felt like she'd just struck gold.

Temperance had looked up from her laptop, glancing at Hank, then smiling at Millie. "Hank is extremely shy around people that are unfamiliar to him, but it appears he likes you."

"He's adorable. Does he ever speak?"

"A few words, when he wants to, but he's more of an observer right now." Brennan chuckled. "He's not nearly as loquacious as his sister was at that age. Christine was a chatterbox as soon as she started learning words, always singing and just making up gibberish if she didn't know the correct words."

They glanced over to where Christine sat tucked into Parker's side on the couch, regaling him with stories of her friend Emma's slumber party that she went to a few weeks ago. "Parker is very proud of her. He speaks about her quite fondly."

"They've always been very close. Parker's like his father in that regard. Family means something very important to them both and, like Booth, Parker is very protective of the women in his life."

Millie snorted. "Tell me about it. I've threatened to wallop him a few times when he's gotten a little overbearing." At the end of that, she leaned over suddenly and poked Hank in his tummy, eliciting a squeal of surprise and another series of giggles.

"I believe Hank, on the other hand, is a little confused right now about his brother. He sees Parker's face on the computer screen regularly when we Skype, but I think he's having a hard time understanding how Parker got out of the computer and showed up in person. He's too young to really remember Parker's last visit."

"How old is Hank now?"

"20 months as of last week."

"Wow." Millie watched as Hank turned and ran down the hall towards his bedroom. "It's hard to believe Parker is his brother. He's more than 16 years older than Hank."

Brennan shrugged. "Booth was relatively young when Rebecca accidently got pregnant with Parker, but his sperm count is quite impressive with excellent motility and morphology characteristics." She looked at Millie with serious concern, a cautionary note creeping into her voice. "Even so, he was significantly older than Parker when he became a father. He'd already finished his schooling, and he was employed."

"Woah. Hold the horses. I am not pregnant and have no bloody intention of getting pregnant anytime soon," Millie reassured her.

"Good. But, assuming you and Parker are in a sexual relationship, you should know that none of Booth's three children were actually planned either. And, I certainly know how easily it is to get carried away in the heat of the moment." Brennan glanced through the glass wall towards her bedroom as a secretive feminine smile appeared on her face. "Your body starts pumping chemicals like oxytocin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin through your system, none of which do _anything_ to improve your capacity for rational thought or intelligent decision making, and before you know it, you're lying there happily naked and trying to catch your breath . . . It may be quite satisfying, I admit, but it's not always smart." She sighed, turning her gaze towards her husband and staring at images in her mind that only she could see, privately reminiscing for a moment, before shaking herself back to the present and picking up where she left off. "But, my point was simply that in the absence of any other data, I'd assume Parker's semen is equally as potent as his father's so you'd be wise to be extremely diligent in practicing your birth control."

Millie grinned. Maybe she should've been annoyed or offended by Brennan poking around in her personal affairs, but it was clear Brennan was simply providing information out of concern without passing any judgment and it was such a pleasant novelty to converse so frankly with another woman that Millie just found the whole conversation delightful. "Yes, ma'am. Got it. I promise you, the gates to the royal castle always remain closed unless the knights are properly armored for battle." She was saved from having to respond to the perplexed frown Brennan turned her way by the reappearance of Hank.

This time, he had a teddy bear which he held out to her as he leaned against her thigh, waiting to see what she would do. Millie accepted the stuffed animal and gave it a thorough looking over. "Why, Master Hank, I do believe this must be one of the finest teddy bears I've ever seen."

That must've been an acceptable response because Hank crawled into her lap and snuggled up to her while she tried to coax him into sharing the bear's name. By the time supper was served, Millie knew she was a goner for the little boy and for the rest of the night, Hank had monopolized her attention. It didn't matter that he wasn't much of a talker, he was still quite capable of making his desires known. He brought her a book to read and just giggled and giggled as she imbued the voices of the animals in the story with heavy English accents. At bed time, he gave her a big hug and seemed reluctant to let go until his mom promised him that he'd see Millie again the next day.

It was such a sharp contrast to the less than warm welcome she received from Parker's sister, Christine. It was clear that Christine considered Parker to be _hers_ , and she wasn't too keen on the prospect of sharing him with someone else. She spent the better part of dinner sulking and shooting daggers at Millie with her eyes when her father told her Parker was to be seated next to Millie, not her. Whenever Parker started chatting with Millie, Christine found a reason to interrupt and draw his attention away.

After dinner, Parker and Millie offered to clean the dishes while Booth and Brennan got the little ones bathed and into their pajamas. First, they put away all the food, packaging the leftovers into lunch-sized portions and storing them in the fridge. Then, they tackled the clean-up. With her arms up to her elbows in warm, sudsy water, Millie pointed out the obvious. "I don't think your sister is too keen on my being here with you."

"Christine? Nah, she's fine."

Millie just tilted her head and quirked an eyebrow at him, conveying her disagreement.

"Right." Parker reached for a plate and started to dry. "She'll come around, though. She's just excited to see me." Parker stored the plate away and reached for another. "You'll see – before long, she and Hank will be fighting for your attention."

"Humph." That one word summed up Millie's skepticism.

Wash, dry. Wash, dry. They fell into a comfortable silence, each reflecting on how the day had played out as they completed their self-appointed chore.

Millie hailed from a fairly large family. She'd been exposed to the chaos and dramas of siblings, nieces, and nephews for her whole life and in her experience, it was typically best to just tackle most issues head on. "Perhaps you and I could offer to take Hank and Christine somewhere for a bit tomorrow and spend some time alone with them. It would give your parents a break and hopefully make your siblings a little more comfortable with the two of us." She threw him a teasing grin. "Perhaps Temperance would even get a chance to finish folding that laundry."

Parker laughed, flicking her ass with his towel. "You're bad. God, that was embarrassing."

Millie turned, leaning her back against the counter and grabbed his belt loops, pulling him closer. "I thought it was wonderful . . . " She tugged a little more and Parker had to brace his arms on the countertop, caging her in, to keep from falling against her. " . . . kinda like you."

Parker couldn't resist. He leaned in and kissed her. He was only planning on a sweet, chaste kiss, but when she sucked on his lower lip and started nibbling on it with her teeth, he turned up the heat and started to get carried away. Neither of them noticed Christine returning from the hallway.

"Eew. Daaaaad, Parker and Millie are kissing in the kitchen!"

"Shit." Parker jerked up straight and pulled away. Millie just gave him a self-deprecating grin, speaking softly for his ears only. "Karma's a bitch, isn't she?"

Booth walked into the room behind Christine.

"Dad –" Parker started.

"Stop." Booth held up his hand and shook his head, still not yet used to the idea of Parker with a girlfriend, but realizing he was going to have to adapt to some degree. "I just . . . I don't . . . damn. Just, keep it clothed and no worse than PG, got it?"

"Yeah, got it."

"Thanks for doing the dishes."

The rest of the night was uneventful. Millie decided to turn in shortly after the kids, planning to read quietly in bed for a bit before going to sleep. But, once she crawled between such extravagant sheets, sleep was quick to claim her until now.

The soft touch of Hank's hand on her cheek brought her fully awake and she could see that even though he'd been brave enough to sneak into her room and crawl into her bed, Hank was a little nervous about his welcome.

Millie gave him a sleepy smile. "Hiya, love."

* * *

 **A/N:** _A pretty fluffy chapter, I admit. Feedback on my story is always welcome._


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